Julie Webb talks about the Asia Pacific Conference. And Cuba is getting lots of respect! Why? Cuba's influence in the Pacific is outside the parameters of the industrial military complex, and the gaining of economic autonomy from US based multinational corporations. Medical and literacy assistance and education, social programs, seem to be winning more respect than the World Bank and the IMF when it comes to the real issues that need to be dealt with by the Asia Pacific Forum.

17.3Mb. 64kbps mono 19 minutesJim Dunn and security services fun and games.The release of former militia members who devastated Timor Leste in 1999 has been controversial. Jim Dunn, a former Consul, an investigator for the United Nations into the war crimes committed by high ranking Indonesian officials in Timor Leste, is critical of the way the Timorese government was forced into a position whereby the 'Indonesian' diplomacy boat, should not be rocked too hard. Human rights issues simply go overboard.

23.Mb 64kbps 25 minsTim Anderson. Cuban medical education.Tim Anderson, academic in Sydney University speaks about a video documentary he has produced as a result of his visits to Timor Leste, and more recently, Cuba, where he interviewed students who are beneficiaries of the one thousand scholarships Cuba granted to the Timorese. The Australian government, thus far has proved reluctant to match this generosity, although over 300 Cuban doctors in Timor Leste, over the last five years, have shouldered the burden of community health services. Tim will be doing further research expeditions in Timor Leste, in the near future, but meanwhile his video documentary will be released with multilingual translations in Australian. Watch this space.

Janelle Saffin, Federal member for Page spent over three years working
in Timor Leste, before taking on her political career. She was present
during the mayhem of the 1999 referendum, and worked at times as an
adviser to the President Jose Ramos Horta, during the period when he
was the Foreign Minister for the East Timorese government. She talks to
community radio 2NimFM about the controversial Truth and Friendship
Commission, which was supposed to expose human rights abuses by the
Indonesian militia. She clears up some of the confusion about the
Commission, which has been criticised in the past for being ineffective
and powerless to prosecute offenders. Particularly relevant at this
time, with recent (and not so recent) press revelations about Australian intelligence services selectively gathering, and also holding back, information under political pressures, on the grounds of maintaining diplomatic relations. Diplomatic relations seem to still be supervening human rights issues, despite the lessons of history.

8Mb. 64kbps. mono 8mins 32 secs.Ian Browne, former Nimbin resident now working in Darwin has been teaching Aboriginal children horticulture, but finds that the 'kids' have been teaching him as much about bush tucker and remedies as they have been learning from him. An environmental project with the Darwin Botanical gardens is about to go up on the web, and next term the team will be doing a multimedia video project. A far cry from recent media reports that the education system is 'collapsing' around the aboriginal communities. Darwin educators are not impressed!

Fred Fuentes, latest report from Caracas. Fred gives us the insider's view of the most recent Chavez call on the Colombian FARC guerrillas to consider putting the armed struggle aside and release their hostages unconditionally (he made a similar statement in January that went unnoticed). This has been exploited by the opposition within Venezuela as a sign of a 'weakening' of Chavez' authority, but the recent PSUV (Venezuelan Socialist Party) preselection results bode well for the developing grass roots foundational support for Chavez in the upcoming November elections.

Lisa MacDonald from GreenLeft Weekly talks about Chavez recent address to the Colombian FARC guerillas to release their remaining hostages and to think about setting aside the armed struggle. The FARC did try this in the 1980s, but resumed their armed struggle when Death Squads and Paramilitaries selectively assassinated or kidnapped the key figures in their movement. Nevertheless, Washington, which has been accusing the Venezuelan government of supporting the FARC, during the recent hostage release negotiations, is suddenly at a loss for words.

10.5Mb. 128kbps mono 11mins 34 secondsLinda Seaborn of the Tasmanian Committee in Support of the FMLN (El Salvador's main opposition party) talks about why a delegation of Australians should go to El Salvador as observers, before and during next year's elections. The current government has a long record of turning a blind eye to, if not actively promoting, human rights violations, and this year the political opposition is particularly targeted. Already the ARENA government of El Salvador has been challenged for its corrupt political practices in previous elections, and is demonstrating a distinct reluctance to subject itself to scrutiny for the coming elections, discouraging international observers. But some Australians are determined to see honesty and fair practice prevail.

Coral Winter is back after coordinating the distinctive presence of the Australian 'Mayday' brigade to Venezuela, that included appropriately, a large contingent of Australian Unionists. The Howard government's ambassador had the Australian embassy in Venezuela closed down when a Washington inspired coup against President Hugo Chavez failed, but hopefully that will change, if Australian Green Senator Bob Brown (with the Australian 'brigadistas'), returns after his own visit, with the news that President Hugo Chavez is not a 'dictator', but a popularly elected leader who increases his electoral popularity regularly with each electoral contest.

Rob Wesley Smith, experienced campaigner for East Timor independence since 1974, points out the flawed motivation of the Northern Territory government, and the perverse logic of the Australian government, to encourage the development of a refinery in Darwin, to exploit the gas and oil reserves of the Timor Gap. Apart from the absurd reasoning processes ( - Timor Leste needs employment, therefore biofuel agriculture is good, but a gas refining plant should come to Australia to create jobs here, but Timorese can come as guest workers ... ) - the environmental issues and the impact on Darwin and the lifestyle of the people of Darwin and the local ambience is virtually ignored. Collective glaucoma, anyone?

Jim Dunn has just returned from a five week visit to Timor Leste where he has had conversations with the President Jose Ramos Horta and other top political leaders. He had time to observe the situation in the streets of Dili, the halls of Parliament, the countryside and the refugee camps. Jim has some 'filthy' questions about why, Human Rights violations against the Timorese people over the last 75 years are still not recognized. Even Indonesian visitors are surprised that the Generals and Colonels who devasted Timor Leste have not been called to account. Most have actually been promoted. Is it the role of the suffering Timorese people to be an instrument of the power games of others?

36.2Mb. 64Kbps mono 1hr 19mins 11secsNimFM has found the rest of the Shoalwater files. The NimFM team covered the anti-war action over a 6 part series. In this (2nd) part we hear the speeches of major anti-war activists from the Pacific region, the United States, and Australian Aboriginal people. And of course, anti-nuclear activist Helen Caldicott. Watch this space for more details.

Lisa McDonald from the Venezuela Solidarity network has some rather acerbic comments on a New York Times article, following an effort by the Chavez government to clean up the Venezuelan Intelligence apparatus ... the NYT would do well to delve a little bit deeper into the history of US/Venezuelan "Intelligence" efforts.

NimFM's intrepid team of radio reporters hit the demonstration against US Australian military exercises at Shoalwater Bay almost a year ago. This first, of a 6 part sequence features interviews with film producer David Bradbury, the Quaker Church, Benny Zable, Johnny Chai, and peace activists from Hawaii and the Pacific. And then there is the street theatre ... drumming, speeches and rallying ...

Lara Pullin with the latest update on the situation in El Salvador where the governing ARENA coalition has scrapped the agreements on electoral reform with the Organisation of American States. With even the most conservative polls giving the FMLN opposition party a commanding 20 point lead, the right wing ARENA party is resorting to increasingly desperate tactics in a bid to steal next year's elections - even threatening to expel independent observers who will be arriving there to observe the elections, including a number of Australians.

Fred Fuentes in Caracas reports on important struggles being played out within Venezuela's governing PSUV (United Socialist Party of Venezuela). While President Chavez' power base is with the grass roots organisations, some of the entrenched bureaucrats and more conservative politicians are fighting off challenges from delegates representing these grass roots organisations, tooth and nail. PSUV is currently going through a kind of 'pre-selection' process, and the more conservative elements are using all kinds of dirty tricks to hang on to their influence within the party.

Jose Texeira, a Fretilin Parliamentarian and the party's media spokesman was in Australia this week and granted 2NimFM an interview where he clarifies some of the issues at stake in the weakening of the AMP governing coalition. One of the older parties, the ASDT, and several smaller parties, are concerned at the lack of transparency of at least one of the appointed AMP Ministers with an apparently covert agreement with an Indonesian Biofuel company to turn a quarter of East Timor's arable land to sugar cane production for biofuels. It took over three months to force the AMP government to make the details of the deal available for public discussion. Jose says that this need not necessarily lead to an early election, this will depend very much on the government's response to questioning. The ASDT has already signed an agreement to run as a coalition party with Fretilin, should elections be called.